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Old 02-05-2010, 04:52 PM   #1
charlene
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Default CBC singer-songwriter seminarLightfoot-Downie-Feb.2010

It was a fabulous night! - JJ, Kenyon and John S. were also in attendance...2nd row seats, dead centre - awesome!
lots of laffs and insight and music...loved it...
camera cops were out in force - no pics...

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/L/...52361-qmi.html

Concert Review: Gordon Lightfoot

Toronto Centre Of The Arts, Toronto - February 4, 2010

By JANE STEVENSON - QMI Agency


TORONTO - A master class in songwriting was offered up by two of the greatest Gords our country has arguably ever offered up - folk icon Gordon Lightfoot and Tragically Hip rocker Gord Downie - on Thursday night at the George Weston Recital Hall.

The occasion was the inaugural concert in a new six-part series, If You Could Read My Mind, named for Lightfoot's 1970 breakthrough song.

Being put on by the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame, the brilliant idea - one that was long overdue - was to pair up two artists to perform stripped-down versions of some of their work and discuss their craft in an intimate setting.

Backed by his two longtime bandmates, Terry Clemente on acoustic guitar and Rick Haynes on bass, Lightfoot trotted out Rainy Day People, Shadows, If You Could Read My Mind and Let It Ride over the course of two hours and plenty of conversation.

Downie, wearing a hat and glasses and seated and strumming an acoustic guitar on his own, dipped into The Hip's Morning Moon and Bobcaygeon, his older solo track, Willow Logic, and a brand new song, (The) Hard Canadian, from his upcoming third solo album due in May.

Additionally, emerging songwriter and East Coast folkie Catherine MacLellan, the talented daughter of another Canadian songwriting legend, Gene MacLellan (Snowbird, Put Your Hand In The Hand), performed three songs, including Lightfoot's I'll Be Alright while he sat a few feet away.

"I got really high and listened to Gordon Lightfoot albums for 12 hours, " she joked of her preparation.

Still, the small theatre setting was perfect for the animated, funny, revelatory and - at times - touching discussion between the two men and host Laurie Brown.

It was hard not to notice Downie's admiration of the 71-year-old Lightfoot - whose "austerity and economy of words" he praised - as The Hip's lead singer got downright emotional early in the show which was being taped for later broadcast on CBC Radio 2.

At first he joked about his obsession when Brown asked the two men what they primarily thought of themselves as - a songwriter, an entertainer, etc..

"I think of myself of Gordon Lightfoot," deadpanned Downie, who would continue the yuks for the duration of the night.

And when Downie went to perform his first song, his nerves and emotions got the better of him.

"That was a wrestling match Gord," said Downie to Lightfoot, touching his knee, afterwards. "But I won. I love being here but it's making me crazy. I promised myself I wouldn't cry."

"It didn't take long," Lightfoot goodnaturedly ribbed back.

Downie was also asked, via an audience question, about which artist's shoes he'd most like to walk in, and he pointed to Lightfoot's snazzy white ankle boots: "Quite literally, I want those shoes."

As the show wound Downie said to Lightfoot: "Until tonight, I only really knew you from the radio. A 10-year-old kid listening to Sundown. It was like a secret from you to me. Thanks for being a great teacher."

Otherwise, the Orillia, Ont-born Lightfoot said he first began writing songs in Grade 12 - his first ever was a novelty tune called The Hula Hoop Song which was inspired by a Life magazine cover - and was inspired more seriously later by Dylan but admitted that "recording was like going to the dentist."

He said he still has a technical rehearsal with his band every Friday to keep his guitar skills up.

When Downie asked Lightfoot about dealing with writer's block, the onetime drinker didn't miss a beat: "Alcohol."

Downie, who hails from Kingston, Ont., couldn't remember the first tune he wrote but said he first sang at a house party - The Doors' opus The End of all things - "trying to infuse it with 15-year-old angst."

Later, he recalled, he and his Hip bandmates hung out at The Prince George Hotel catching travelling blues legends like John Lee Hooker in concert but Downie admitted he didn't learn to play the acoustic guitar until he was twenty.

Both men agreed their songwriting had been hugely inspired by nature over the years, helping to forge the Canadian identity, with Lightfoot revealing he went on massive canoe trips in Northern Ontario and Quebec, sometimes a month at a time.

The only problem - and it's a good one to have - the CSHF now faces is how to make the next five concerts as entertaining as Thursday night's premiere deluxe edition.

Lightfoot and Downie's natural chemistry set the bar high.

The only minor suggested change to the format is that a collaboration between the two men would have been fun to hear or even their versions of each others songs.
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Old 02-05-2010, 06:37 PM   #2
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

Sounds fantastic, Char. Please let us know if you hear when the broadcast airs on CBC 2.

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Old 02-05-2010, 07:51 PM   #3
Jesse Joe
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

Looks like you all had a fun evening... thank's Char.
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Old 02-07-2010, 09:58 AM   #4
charlene
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

.Music Review http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1458470/

Lightfoot & Downie: Mysteries and muses

From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published on Saturday, Feb. 06, 2010 12:30AM EST
Gordon Lightfoot and Gord Downie at George Weston Recital Hall in Toronto on Thursday

An evening of music and moderated conversation with Gordon Lightfoot and Gord Downie was offbeat, rare, distinctive, sometimes shaky, often entertaining and only occasionally illuminating. Early on, Downie, the contemplative Tragically Hip rocker and occasional poet, was asked about the night’s topic, songwriting. He said he enjoyed it – that it was a “real mystery.”

It still is. In the first of the If You Could Read My Mind behind-the-music series of concerts presented by the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Downie waxed eloquent about creating a place that was “ample and grateful” through song, as through poetry. More austerely, Lightfoot spoke of the demands of a recording contract as his muse.

There is jeopardy in poking around in things revered. “Its mystery is its life,” Walter Bagehot said of royalty (or maybe it was poutine or Bob Dylan). “We must not let daylight in upon the magic.” Music journalist Laurie Brown, the moderator, predicted “I don’t really know what’s going to happen tonight, but it will be a happening.”

And so, off into the mystic. Right off the bat, the two musically iconic Canadians veered perilously away from their theme, describing themselves as entertainers, not songwriters: “First and foremost, I like to perform,” explained Lightfoot, who no longer writes or records. Downie agreed, saying he started out as an entertainer, and that a performer is what he’d inevitably be. To hear Lightfoot tell it, songwriting was a chore, the recording of songs a trial akin to a visit to the dentist.

They spoke seated on stools, Downie, holding an acoustic guitar, deferentially to the left of Lightfoot. The unscripted conversation was interspersed with performances. For his, Lightfoot walked five steps or so over to where his long-time band mates Rick Haynes softly played electric bass and Terry Clements neatly hit lead notes on his acoustic guitar. Downie presented his material alone, not moving from his high chair, inches away and in the shadow of the Sundown singer.

The two were a study in contrasts – Lightfoot, the gentle, worn, melancholic balladeer of Rainy Day People, Shadows, If You Could Read My Mind and Let it Ride, and Downie, the earthy strummer with a style that was masculine and melodically sturdy. Of Downie’s presentation of the image-laden Morning Moon, Lightfoot said he admired the younger man’s energy and persistence. “That’s my thing,” replied the somewhat unnerved Downie, saying he felt like he was playing with boxing gloves on. “I love being with you here,” he told his hero. “It’s making me crazy.”

At one point the stage was tuned over to Prince Edward Island-based Catherine MacLellan, the beautiful, pure-voiced daughter of the late songwriter Gene MacLellan. She performed gracefully; with each unfailingly reached note, Taylor Swift’s popularity became more unaccountable.

Downie stayed away from his Tragically Hip classics, choosing solo material (Willow Logic) and an unreleased piece (Hard Canadian, from his forthcoming album). The exception was Bobcaygeon, normally a wind-swept sing-along in the arenas. Its smaller form was no less affecting.

Asked if certain songs were too personal to sing, Lightfoot said no, explaining that some poignant memories are worth forgetting – “My life has been quite complicated” – but that the show must go on.

Downie verbally hugged Lightfoot towards the end, thanking his “teacher.” Songwriters can never be thanked enough. Downie, Lightfoot and all the others pull rabbits out of hats tune by tune. Understanding what they do isn’t so important. Just be amazed – they deserve it.

The concert will be broadcast on Easter Sunday, on CBC Radio Two’s Inside the Music.
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Old 02-07-2010, 10:04 AM   #5
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

P.E.I. Catherine MacLellan sings Lightfoot song for music legend

SALLY COLE
The Guardian

Catherine MacLellan meets Canadian folk music legend Gordon Lightfoot, left, and Tragically Hip front man Gord Downie at Canada’s Music Hall of Fame in Toronto. She performed two songs of her own as well as I’ll Be Alright, a Lightfoot composition for Lightfoot at the event, which was called If You Could Read My Mind. Submitted photo

If you could read Catherine MacLellan’s mind, what a tale her thoughts could tell.
That’s because she’s thinking about her performance in Toronto this past Thursday with folk music icon Gordon Lightfoot.
“It was incredible. We hit it off immediately and had fun time chatting back stage,” says the award-winning P.E.I. singer-songwriter and daughter of the late songwriter Gene MacLellan (Snowbird), during a telephone interview from Ottawa where she was en route to Wakefield, Quebec, for a performance Friday night.
Although MacLellan had grown up listening to Lightfoot’s music on CDs, she had never seen him play before and only dreamed of playing for him.
“So to be able to perform for someone who is so legendary as he is in Canadian music was truly amazing. I did two of my songs — Water In The Ground and Sparrows — and then I lunged into one of his, I’ll Be Alright, which they asked me to do.”
While it was easy to play her own compositions, it was daunting to play his.
“It was so scary. The song they gave me was one that ... I had heard before. So there I was in front of him — Gordon Lightfoot himself — playing a song I hardly knew and one that I didn’t want to mess up.
“In order to do it I had to pretend he wasn’t there,” says MacLellan with a laugh.
Then, when it was finally over, he gave a positive response.
“He was really sweet about it, gave me a big hug and told me that he enjoyed the rendition. Gordon Lightfoot is a sweet man,” says MacLellan, who also met Tragically Hip front man Gord Downie, who also performed during the concert.
MacLellan had been invited by Lightfoot to appear with him on stage during If You Could Read My Mind, which took place at Canada’s Music Hall of Fame in Toronto.
In his lifetime, Lightfoot has achieved international success in folk, country and popular music. As a singer-songwriter, he came to prominence in the 1960s, and entered the international music charts in the 1970s with songs such as If You Could Read My Mind (1970), Sundown (1974), Carefree Highway (1974), Rainy Day People (1975), and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (1976).
It’s the latest accomplishment for MacLellan, who is nominated for three 2010 East Coast Music Awards in Cape Breton, just won the Canadian Folk Music Award for solo performer of the year and released her new CD Water in The Ground.
And that pleases the executive director of Music P.E.I.
“It is wonderful to see Catherine receiving this type of recognition from one of Canada’s musical legends,” says Rob Oakie. “Through her commitment, dedication to her craft and hard work she is destined to become one of our country’s great singer-songwriters.”
If You Could Read My Mind, the concert series, is organized by the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

With file from The Canadian Press
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Old 02-07-2010, 11:29 AM   #6
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

i really do love Catherines teeth, truly



wonderful seeing char, lisa, kenyon and lovely sidekick once again...the theme diverted from songwriting many times but as Downie more or less said, I just loved being in that space

i may have already made this comment in another thread but Catherine has the Karen Carpenter look and gentleness with a Gillian Welch delivery...i was nervous for her but she pulled off the GL tune nicely, a tasty, simple and flowing arrangement with solemnly delivered and naturally phrased vocals...the ensuing Gord hug was a lovely moment...unfortunately that image and the many many facial and hand mannerisms made by both Gords (as we all know, Lightfoot mannerisms paint a thousand words) will be a void in the CBC audio broadcast

looking forward to the signature char recap...i have a few more thoughts

that arrangement of Shadows plus the Let It Ride closing segment work that Rick did on the neck of the bass while Terry was adding to colour with his plucking of harmonics, really sounded superb in that outstanding hall...and well, yes, the seats were pretty good too

i found the stripped down Downie renditions very captivating, especially some of those chord constructions...his poetic intro and then delivery of Mo(u)rning Moon for the McGarrigles had me wide eyed and even wider eared

he did well very well without the full Hip backing...the only thing that would have made the eve of banter more Canadian would be if Downie said he felt like he was playing with ’hockey’ gloves on

btw, Sylvia Tyson looked really well

Last edited by jj; 02-08-2010 at 06:41 AM.
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Old 02-07-2010, 01:40 PM   #7
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

and you missed me there didn't you JJ?
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Old 02-07-2010, 03:31 PM   #8
Jesse Joe
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

I really enjoyed those 2 Catherine MacLelland video clips wonderful interview & great song. Makes me wonder if that old 6 string Gibson guitar once belonged to her Dad ??? Thanks for posting them jj !
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Old 02-07-2010, 04:14 PM   #9
charlene
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

I wondered about the guitar too..it was a lovely sounding one..
As I've opined before - I'm not a keen 'female' voice fan but found her easy delivery and grace captivating. The sound in the hall, as James said was excellent and two rows back,dead centre were fab seats..and yes we missed you Deby!The whole thing should have been videotaped because there was so much going on as they sat and talke-like James said - hand movements.
The way Lightfoot sat and watched Downie sing and play, how he sat with his hands clasped in his lap, eyes closed as Catherine sang...
His wry humour coming across with a slight glance towards the audience and a small grin coming to his lips when we'd laugh or applaud.
Terry and Rick came through beautifully - both sitting on stools in a casual, relaxed manner while playing and then sitting and listening to the conversation happening a dozen feet away from them.
The several times that Downie reached over to touch Lightfoot were so endearing..it was like he just had to make contact and ensure himself that he really was right there a foot away.
When asked what he thought of Catherine, Lightfoot said 'very good, great intonation, she has a church bell voice, good work, sensitive, romantic, great vocals, interesting melodies,...she did a good job on my song too...." The audience cracked up...
It was adorable after Lightfoot's critique when Catherine said - "my heart is still jumping" and then was asked if she had anything else to say . she paused and quietly said "Uh...no"...and left the stage... lol
At the end of the show it was really nice that she came back out for the final applause with Downie, Lightfoot, Rick and Terry and that Gord Downie walked over to shake Rick and Terry's hands with a real feeling of appreciation. He made mention of them a few times during the show and impressing them both with his knowledge of how long they'd been with Gord and when they had started..
damned CBC for not recording this for TV...
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Old 02-07-2010, 05:55 PM   #10
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

For certain that would have been a really interesting TV program to view. Second row dead centre that sounds familiar for me.


"I'm not a keen 'female' voice fan but found her easy delivery and grace captivating."

"The way Lightfoot sat and watched Downie sing and play, how he sat with his hands clasped in his lap, eyes closed as Catherine sang"... Awesome
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Old 02-07-2010, 07:36 PM   #11
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

this video was in june/09-catherine singing her dad's tune that Anne Murray had her first big hit with- an iconic Canadian song also covered by Elvis..
-The guitar Catherine uses was her dads..

Concert on Demand - CBC radio 2
http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20090523cathm
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Old 04-02-2010, 10:24 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by charlene View Post
it will air on Sund.April 4 on cbc radio two and then will be listed in their Concerts on Demand section.
Easter weekend is here ...what time is it airing? hope folks in the USA and o'erseas, can also listen
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Old 04-03-2010, 07:29 AM   #13
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

you're the best!~ i would have preferred 10pm...so many families would be busy mid aft, hard to settle and listen to the banter in that mode...i wonder if any 'curse' word(s) will be edited out...not sure about the scramble of signals, what happened to free trade?
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Old 04-09-2013, 03:49 PM   #14
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Default Re: Lightfoot songwriting seminar last night

GORD DOWNIE sings Restless (December 2009 @ The Phoenix.Toronto.

http://vimeo.com/8230687
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Old 10-08-2014, 10:34 PM   #15
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Default Re: CBC singer-songwriter seminarLightfoot-Downie-Feb.2010


















https://soundcloud.com/gord-downie/s...d-read-my-mind all AUDIO excerpts are here...
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Old 10-10-2014, 11:01 AM   #16
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Default Re: CBC singer-songwriter seminarLightfoot-Downie-Feb.2010

Thanks for reposting--. I thought MacLelland's cover is one of the best I've heard and it's great to hear it again.
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Old 10-10-2014, 03:38 PM   #17
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Default Re: CBC singer-songwriter seminarLightfoot-Downie-Feb.2010

I thought so too!
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Old 06-18-2016, 09:25 PM   #18
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Default Re: CBC singer-songwriter seminarLightfoot-Downie-Feb.2010

worth listening again..
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Old 10-18-2017, 10:57 PM   #19
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Default Re: CBC singer-songwriter seminarLightfoot-Downie-Feb.2010

i watched this concert again today - i was most into the Hip in that first year probably cos i was doing lots of driving (clients north of Lake Superior, so flew then rented car) and Up To Here is still one of my fave road albums

this sparse crowd, day concert was months before that first album was even released... at 32:00 they play the song they started their final concert with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g60nQgeU_nY

love the kid dancing now and then throughout... and Gord signing for him (38:30) ... that kid is now in his 30s and must treasure whatever he wrote to him ...RIP, GordD

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Old 10-19-2017, 04:50 AM   #20
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Default Re: CBC singer-songwriter seminarLightfoot-Downie-Feb.2010

RIP, Gord Downie!

I will confess that I wasn't really that familiar with the music of Tragically Hip, but I did know that Kurt Browning (one of my all time favorite figure skaters) was personally friends with the group, & skated to some of their music.

Gail
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